Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI::Goa Forward Party (GFP) President and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai, along with other party leaders, joined a public protest at Azad Maidan in Panjim on Thursday.
The demonstration was organized by a citizens’ collective under the banner Citizens For Goa, who issued a “Call for Protest Against the Undeclared Emergency” in the state.
Addressing the media, Sardesai accused the ruling BJP government of suppressing democratic freedoms and operating in a manner akin to a state of emergency,without officially declaring one. “There is an undeclared emergency in Goa which becomes evident the moment you speak to the people,” Sardesai said. “The government may not have invoked Articles 352 or 360, but the restrictions and the fear imposed on the public mirror that era.”
He alleged that after poaching Congress MLAs, the BJP had only worsened the state’s condition. “Corruption has increased manifold. Lokayukta cases are piling up, but there is no Lokayukta. The police force is under pressure not to act. It is being run by non-Goan IAS officers who are more interested in covering up scams than delivering justice,” he claimed.
Sardesai pointed to growing instances of land scams, employment-for-cash rackets, and political targeting of activists as signs that civil liberties were being eroded. “The government is systematically ending dissent and destroying Goa to facilitate corrupt and self-serving interests,” he said.
Drawing parallels with India’s post-Emergency political change in 1977, Sardesai called for a similar regime change in Goa by 2027. “If we fail to bring about this change, there will be no Goemkarponn left. Goans will have no future, and Goa will be lost.”
